Watson, the hometown favorite who also lost to Quigley in a
playoff in the season-opening event in Hawaii, had a chance to win
in regulation. But he left a long birdie putt hanging on the lip on
his final hole, bringing a groan from the big gallery.
Watson played 12 holes Monday, finishing off a 6-under 66 to join
Quigley and Morgan, who finished their rounds before rain suspended
play Sunday, at 11-under 133. Rain washed out play Saturday,
reducing the tournament to 36 holes for the third time in four
years.
Quigley, playing his 261st straight Champions Tour tournament,
hit a 6-iron to 11 feet on the 442-yard 18th in the playoff. Watson
and Morgan each two-putted for par after leaving their approach
shots much farther away.
"I really, really tried to birdie that hole. And that was the
hardest that hole had played all week with the wind the way it was,"
Quigley said. "I hit two of my best shots of the week right there."
The 58-year-old Quigley has been on the roll of a lifetime,
winning $761,200 in his last six events and never finishing lower
than seventh. He beat Watson in sudden death to win the
MasterCard
Championship.
"For me to be on this ride, with such a positive mental outlook,
it's something I think all players try to achieve and very few get
to this position where I am," said Quigley, a 10-time winner on the
Champions Tour. "It's an amazing way to play golf when you're never
worried about anything. It's just unbelievable."
For Watson, it was another close, disappointing attempt to win in
his hometown. He also lost to Quigley by one shot in regulation in
2000, when Quigley sank a 12-foot putt on No. 18. "It was a familiar
scene," Watson said. "He made the putt again. He's 2-for-2 against
me. I've got to do something about that boy."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dana Quigley watched his putt drop in on the
seventh green during the final round of the
MasterCard Championship.
Quigley claims title
with playoff victory
Watson loses on the third
extra hole after hitting
into a lava field
KA'UPULEHU, Hawaii » One of the last things Tom Watson said after
Saturday's second round was he hoped the wind would blow on Sunday.
Well, it blew all right and it landed Watson in the rocks on the
third playoff hole of yesterday's $1.6 million MasterCard
Championship at the Hualalai Golf Club. The beneficiary of Watson's
death blow at the par-3 17th was Dana Quigley.
After Quigley missed a 5-footer for par at the 18th in regulation
to shoot 18-under 198 for the tournament, Watson followed that
miscue with a blown opportunity of his own to finish in a 54-hole
tie.
Moments later, the two golfers set off on a journey that ended
after Watson hit a 7-iron over the green and into the lava field at
the back of the hole. Quigley, who lost in a playoff to Fuzzy
Zoeller last year, hit first at the 17th. He noted that the wind had
shifted somewhat from the first time he had played the hole, so he
used an 8-iron and still put his ball on the back fringe. Watson
wasn't as fortunate.
He had to take a drop behind the hole for the lateral hazard,
chipped up to within 5 feet and made it for bogey. Quigley
two-putted from the fringe for par and his first victory on the
Champions Tour since he captured this same winners-only tournament
two years ago.
Quigley pocketed $272,000 and credited the Kona Coast for his
good fortune. Watson took home $163,000 for second, and past
MasterCard winners Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan made $110,000 for
finishing one stroke back at 17-under 199 for third.
Only Irwin's final-round 65 was better than Quigley's 6-under 66.
Watson closed with an erratic 70. He had a couple of chances to win
the playoff, but just couldn't get it done. His 7-iron at the 17th
proved to be his undoing
"I'm actually not surprised (with Watson's club selection)
because the wind turned around," Quigley said. "We had 169 to the
hole and 180 over the green. I hit 8-iron, which I hit 150. But I
just figured I was zipped up and it went to the back fringe. And I
think Tom had a 7-iron and he flushed it. And when it got in the air
I said, 'That thing is in the rocks'.
"From when we finished, the wind was going one-quarter across the
fairway to when we had the playoff it must have turned slightly and
went straight down. He flushed it, too, unfortunately. And we really
didn't feel it until we got to the tee. I was not hitting the 7
because I was taking the back out of play, I thought."
Watson didn't dwell on his crucial mistake. It was his second
trip through the lava fields. The first occurred at the par-5
fourth. He hit his second shot way right, but the ball took a
fortuitous bounce and allowed Watson to shoot a birdie, instead of a
bogey.
"I went from a six to a four in a heartbeat," Watson said. "I
don't make any excuses. I just didn't play very well. I was more
nervous today than I probably should have been. I've dealt with
those nerves before. I can't take anything away from Dana. He shot
66 and it blew today.
"It was a good, solid round of golf. He's played a lot more
rounds of golf the last six years than I have. You don't play
what-ifs too many times. That's your business. You can play
what-ifs. I don't play what-ifs too much. I've played this game long
enough to know things even out."
Quigley was equally philosophical about his bogey 5 at the
closing hole. Had Watson made his birdie at the 18th from 9 feet,
Quigley loses the tournament much like he did last year to Zoeller.
But he didn't. Quigley forgot about the bogey and moved on into the
playoff.
"No bogey affects me," Quigley said of his chance to sew it up in
regulation. "This is what I've been trying to teach my nephew Brett
and my own son. I told them in Florida last month that bogeys only
hurt you if you let them.
"That's life. I didn't try to do it. I actually tried to make
that putt. I had a really good putt, but it just didn't turn into
the hole. The first playoff hole I hit the same putt, so I'm not too
bright. I still played it to break left and it didn't. I would not
have beaten myself up if Watson makes birdie. That's what the Lord
wanted to happen."
Divine intervention seemed to play a big role for Quigley at the
par-4 15th. With Watson struggling and Quigley needing a big shot,
he nailed a 4-iron from 188 yards to within a foot of the cup.
"That was the shot," Quigley said of the birdie in regulation.
"With a 4-iron into that hole it was a sick shot as the kids say. Us
old guys think that means it's bad, but it's good. My caddie is a
good friend of mine and he said, 'How can you have the nerve to do
that?' I said you only get a chance to win a few times a year out
here on tour. If you don't go at it when you've got a chance what
difference does it make?
"What if I made a bogey? It's not a big deal. You've got to go to
win if you can win. You've got to lay down at night and look in the
mirror the next day and you say why didn't I go for that? You gotta
go for that."
